Writer and women's rights advocate Jessica Winward is tired of publicity and fair-weather acquaintances. She hopes her forty-third birthday celebration will reunite her with companions and mark the end of her writing career in style. What she receives is Barclay O'Malley.

From that first night, the women are never the same. They share their lives in an atypical arrangement, and their lifestyle doesn't come without resentment, opposition, and sorrow. Jessica's family denounces their relationship, and Barclay's secret deceit sees the light of day.

Nevertheless, the women devote their love to each other and face all obstacles together. 89 Carruther's Place is where it begins and ends.

EXCERPT:

She breathed heavily. Air escaping her lips whisked past Jessica’s ear and into her hair. Barclay ran her fingers through the golden strands onto Jessica’s back and slid down onto her perfectly round buttocks. Her hands crept toward Jessica’s front and caressed her flattened stomach.

Barclay imagined her teacher’s lips parting at the sounds of her own moans. In her thoughts, she heard Jessica whisper, “Barclay, I love you.”

EXCERPT:
Barclay jumped from her seat and said, “It was coincidence, a stupid coincidence! I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to make you feel any worse than you were already feeling. It was your birthday, Jesse—how could I tell you?”
“Mom, this is what I was trying to make you see—”
“Shut up, Laura!” Jessica stood. “Go somewhere, now!”
“Are you going be—”
“Go,” she demanded and Laura left quickly. Jessica neared Barclay and said, “Barclay, you explain this to me.”
“All right.” After a few breaths, she continued. “I met Ben in New York—that I told you—but I didn’t tell you that we got involved.”
“Involved? So, what Laura says is true? You married Ben?”
She nodded. “I didn’t know he was your ex, at the time. Jesse, you got to believe me.”
Jessica breathed heavily, quick and shallow. She went to her chair. “So, you had no idea?”
“None! I left him. I moved back in with my mother and finished school.”
“All right, that’s not so bad. After all, Ben and I were divorced. What I can’t handle, Barclay, is the fact that you never told me. You had one opportunity after another to come clean.”
“Come clean about what, Jesse? What am I confessing to? That we just happened to have been two women who married a man, one behind the other?”
“Are you sure that’s all it was? I mean, he and I were divorced, right?”
“Yes—what do you take me for?”
Jessica paused then asked, “Why did you show up?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why did you come here that night?”
Barclay looked into her eyes and said, “Jesse, you have no idea how long I’ve been trying to find you.”
“Why?”
Twenty years in the making—could Barclay hold out any longer?The time had come and there was no going back. Everything she had gone through, everything she’d put others through, it all led to this moment. She would not let it be in vain.
Jessica was frozen—shoulders tight, neck stiff, and eyes gleaming straightforward. Barclay leaned in and pressed her lips against Jessica’s—held her close by placing her hand on the back of her head. Her mouth swerved and her hand grazed Jessica’s hair, neck, then caressed her chest.
Jessica moaned and pulled away. “Oh, my God.”
“Is that good or bad?” Barclay asked.
She smiled, nervously. “I don’t know, yet.”
“Let me help you decide. I love you. I always have. My mother knew it, Donna knew it, and now you know it.”
“Who’s Donna?”
Barclay laughed.
“I’m sorry, that was stupid.” She stood then started to pace. “Barclay, I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. Take time to let it soak in.”
“You love me? Like gay love?”
“Like Jessica love.”
“That woman at the shop, where we picked out Laura’s dress—so, she was hitting on you. God! Everyone knew but me. Barclay…”
She walked toward her and said, “Jesse, I waited a long time for this moment. Now that it’s here, the right words won’t come out. I didn’t plan when I would tell you, but that time is here. I don’t have a well-written letter, or a song to sing, in order to explain it. All I can tell you is that I’ll never love anyone the way I love you.”
“Barclay, I’ve never been with a woman.”
“And I’ve never been with a woman like you.”
Jessica chuckled. “No, Barclay, whatever your preference is that’s fine with me, but I’m not a lesbian. I’ve never felt the way you do.”
“So, you’ve never felt the need to be with someone so badly that you can’t stop thinking about that person?”
“Yeah, but—”
“You start to doubt your sanity, because the people who care about you call you a freak.”
“I—”
“You go against all odds to stick to your convictions, because you know that that someone is the only one for you.” Barclay moved close and held Jessica’s hand. “And you’ve never felt if there was some way you could prove your love to that person it would all be worth it.”

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